Ratatouille - Movie Review

It's pretty easy to make little rodents charming and fun characters (just ask Disney himself, to a clichéd extent), but it's even harder to make them work in such a way that's original and exciting as comedy in conventional ways for today's audiences. I remember the first time I ever saw a teaser for this movie. I thought it looked silly and I had to wonder just what Pixar and Disney were thinking. A rat wanting to get fancy Frency food. Please.But Brad Bird shouldn't be lumped into the group of today's CGI animators.Brad Bird's "Ratatouille" is a rich, textured film that explores several important themes while sustaining a strong moral core

To Put the story in brief, Ratatouille follows Remy (Patton Oswalt), a rat who wants to become a good cook instead of a good food thief (like his father and co.) and will attempt to do so with his special smelling abilities. After a mishap where he lives, he winds up underneath Paris, close to the restaurant of his mentor, the recently deceased Gusteau (Brad Garrett). Using the garbage boy of the ex-5-star restaurant Linguini (Lou Romano), he attempts to spread his talent of cooking. Conflicts arise when the head chef Skinner (Ian Holm) suspects the sudden rise of fame in Linguini's cooking and realizes his true worth. More conflicts arise when the only female chef becomes romantically involved with Linguini; Remy is having trouble returning to the lifestyle of a rat, and a well-known yet stern critic Ego (Peter O'Toole) decides to make a return into the spotlight.


All the actors are in fine form for their voice parts.But it is the reliable Peter O'Toole who really enjoys the part as the dark, brooding critic,and does the best voice work of all, outdoing all the rats.

The animation, is brilliant. There is no other word to describe it. Just the one scene where Remy realizes that he is in Paris, and overlooks the entire Parisian skyline, is enough reason to see the film. It looks fantastic in every scene, and never does the beautifully rendered scenery or characters look any less amazing than they did in the scene before. Pixar has really fine-tuned their style over the years, and it shows in how astonishing these characters look, even down to the minuscule little details like a few stubbly hairs on Linguini's chin. It just looks that realistic

Bottom Line: You can only raise the bar higher so many times before not even yourself can reach it. This is what happened with Cars and Monster's Inc., and movies like Ratatouille are the reasons why. While the pacing and running time may be a turnoff for some, the excellent visuals and flawless storytelling more than make up for it. Like a full course meal, Ratatouille has a little bit of everything and much more. In a summer of pretty sad sequels, a charming story about a rat with a crazy dream rises to the top of the quality heap.

The Bourne Ultimatum - Review

"The Bourne Ultimatum" has much in common with this summer's earlier "Live Free or Die Hard," in that both movies are essentially one long chase sequence involving a protagonist whose ingenuity and grace under pressure are surpassed only by his seeming indestructibility.

Part three begins exactly where part two left off. In fact, as complicated as it may sound, some events in Ultimatum actually coincide with events that were seen in Supremacy. The chronology of the two films overlap in places, which I found quite a remarkable achievement for the writers and continuity people on the crew. For example, the very last scene of Supremacy shows up about 3/4 of the way into Ultimatum, and yet the two stories are completely different.

Matt Damon again reprises his role as the infamous forgetful assassin, Jason Bourne - the product of a top secret CIA behavioral moderation program. But the memories of his past still prove elusive and he still yearns to put all the pieces together. His hope of uncovering the past lies with a British journalist, Simon Ross (Paddy Considine) who has a source within the CIA who holds the answers. As Bourne picks up the trail to find this informant, top CIA man Noah Vosen (David Strathairn) and his team work tirelessly to keep the lid on tight. And if that means killing Bourne in the process - so be it.

The action of this film starts at the very onset and doesn't let up. The viewer is taken to locales all over the world, including Turin, Italy; Tangier, Morocco; Madrid, Spain, and New York City. Once again Bourne proves to be a smart operative, dodging the CIA's hit squad and staying once step ahead of the guys in Langley. The entire film is hip, intelligent, and clever, without being overly-complicated. The plot is easy enough to follow, but is similar in places to The Bourne Identity. The story doesn't quite separate itself from the original as Supremacy managed to do.

Paul Greengrass, who helmed Supremacy, once again takes on the chores of directing. His documentary style of shooting puts the audience right in the action, with enough subjective hand-held shots and shaky camera work to make anyone nauseous. Greengrass would have done well to pull out on some of these fight scenes and car chases to give us more establishing shots. It's very disorienting to the point of distracting. Often it's difficult to tell just exactly what's going on.

Matt Damon fills the role of Jason Bourne nicely, blending cold intensity with a sense of vulnerability. However, more attention was placed on characterization in The Bourne Identity than in The Bourne Ultimatum. It seemed to be all action with no depth of character. The fault here lies with Greengrass, who apparently didn't want to take the time to flesh out the characters and their motivations. What comes across is a cast of so-so performances, when (with a little attention) they could have been just as explosive as the action.

In all, The Bourne Ultimatum is raw and intense with a ton of action - spectacular fight scenes, car chases, and gun battles. Bourne is the new Bond.

The Dark Knight - Teaser Trailer

Here is the teaser trailer of the new Batman movie , which was shown along with the Simpsons Movie .Think its the Joker speaking in the end ..Enjoy

"The Dark Knight" : Joker Revealed

Warner Bros revealed the new Joker played by Heath Ledger  for the upcoming Batman Franchise "Dark Knight"




 


The big Bat-rumor of the day is that the teaser trailer for The Dark Knight will be running in front of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix when it opens July 13th. Both films are Warner Bros. releases.

According to a scooper for Ain't It Cool News, the teaser trailer will show a series of playing cards falling in slow-motion against a black background. Over this we supposedly hear The Joker's voice. The last card to fall is a joker card "with also a picture of the bat signal on fire."

All Hail the King?

Last King of Scotland, one of the less hyped movie of 2006 explores the disorder and chaos during the Idi Amin regime in Uganda, which lasted from 1971 through 1979 and resulted in thousands upon thousands of deaths, as seen through the eyes of his fictionalized Scottish doctor.Like the Oliver Hirschbiegel’s movie “Downfall” which was based on Hitlers last days, this movie attempts to provide an unbiased
portrayal of Idi Amin,showing both his good and bad sides in equal measure. Make no
mistake, this is no historcal documentry type of movie but more like political thriller which keeps up its pace from the opening credits till the tense finale.

The story follows Nicholas Garrigan (James McAvoy), a newly graduated doctor, moves to Uganda leaving his overbearing father and searching for adventure and a chance to prove his newfound skills to save lives. He is attractive and dashing and already flirting with Sarah ( Gillian Anderson), the pretty blonde wife of the headof the rural medical clinic he’s come to work in. During the course of his work Nicholas encounters the new President himself, Idi Amin (Forest Whitatker) , through a rather bizarre and tense event and Amin offers Nicolas a new job as his personal physician. Nicholas goes along with the whole idea hesitantly at first, but really starts to bond with Amin as he comes of as a great leader with a magnetic personality . But as the ruler’s paranoia begins to set in, Nicholas discovers that no one is safe. His own life is in danger , especially since he is having an affair with Amin’s neglected third wife (Kerry Washington. Every day, Amin relies more on his soldiers and less on his non-military advisors, and his enemies begin disappearing en masse. As time wears on and Nicholas is no longer allowed to leave Uganda he realises that he has to get home by any means possible, and that leads to a tense climax.

The movie is a good, but what makes it better is the peformaces of the lead actors. James McAvoy is real good and suits the role as a young, naive and cocky doctor “trying to play the white guy in a land of blacks” who later realises what kind of deep trouble he is in, reminded me a lot for Ewan McGregor.The movie has loads of gore and one unflinching torture scene and is not recommeded for the weak hearted.

And now for the best part of the movie,Forest Whitaker delivers not only the best performance of his career, not only the best of 2006, but one of the best performances ever.You don’t see him here, You see Idi Amin, everytime he is on screen you can see the sparks fly and the tension rising. Despite playing a less than savoury character, Whitaker brings about certain charisma to his role, and makes it believable that the masses adore their new leader rising from a coup. Switching from the man who’s contended with everything, and earnestly believing he can delivery the country from the despair, to one obsessed with power, and consumed by madness, inconsistencies, and suspicion, Whitaker does it all and showcases his spectrum of abilities convincingly

When it’s all said and done, ’The Last King of Scotland’ proves to be an intense, gritty and well-made drama/thriller built around an astonishingly powerful performance that is much more memorable than the film itself.

Blades of Glory - Movie Review

BLADES OF GLORY is the ice skating comedy. starring Will Ferrell and Jon Heder. Will Arnett, Amy Poehler, and Craig T. Nelson also round out the cast along with cameos by other notable names.

Ferrell and Heder play arch rival figure skaters Chazz Michael Michaels and Jimmy MacElroy. Chazz is the skating outlaw and sex symbol on ice. Jimmy is the distinctively sensitive orphan child prodigy. Following a ridiculous awards brawl after tying for Olympic Gold, Chazz and Jimmy are banned from Men's Singles competition for life. Three and a half years later, Jimmy's Coach (Craig T. Nelson) discovers a loop hole in the ban. The lifetime ban does not apply to pairs figure skating competition. Therefore, Chazz and Jimmy make history and the tabloids as the first ever male-male pairs team. Coach inspires his men that as a male-male pairs team they can risk moves that other mixed pairs can't—including his "lotus" death spiral. Chazz and Jimmy challenge the reign of pairs champions Stranz and Fairchild Van Waldenberg (Will Arnett and Amy Poehler), an eerie brother and sister duo. Innocent Jimmy is smitten by the Van Waldenberg's younger sister Katie (Jenna Fischer). Thus, the stage is set. Can Chazz and Jimmy overcome their egos and determine who the dude of the pair is? Can Coach inspire his men to reclaim their past greatness? And is there no limit to the ruthlessness of the Van Waldenbergs? Well, "Blades of Glory" is predictable to its soul. However, it is also refreshingly funny. There are groin jokes, and there are more groin jokes.


Most of the humor comes from perfect casting of the characters. Will Ferrell's Chazz is so shamelessly stupid and arrogant; one need only applaud and admire. Ferrell's gift is that he stays in character throughout, oblivious to how funny he is. He and Heder have great chemistry. They have a hilarious scene where Chazz describes the origin of his tattoos. Jon Heder is a surprise. He actually fleshes out the sensitive Jimmy as a charming innocent. His relationship with Katie (Jenna Fischer) is humorously sweet and awkward. Fischer is also great as Katie, as an unwilling pawn of the Waldenbergs. Craig T. Nelson is awesome. He provides a surreal and ridiculous authority. The only weakness may be Stranz and Fairchild Waldenberg (Will Arnett and Amy Poehler). Though likely more an artifact of the story, Stranz and Fairchild are inept and evil without posing any real comedic threat. Arnett and Poehler are funny, but in a one note fashion.

Overall this movie is a good watch on a lazy Sunday afternoon, do not expect too much from it though .

POTC 3 At World's End - Official Trailer!

Here is the exclusive trailer of the 3rd and final franchise of the Pirates of the Caribbean movie



The film releases worldwide on May 25th

300 - Movie Review

Forget Kingdom of Heaven, Troy, Alexander and all those so called “sandals and swords “movies. These films do not hold a candle to the amazing piece of artwork that is “300” Frank Miller, who did nothing but take a flashlight the size of the sun and shine it on his graphic novel work with green-lighting the film adaptation of "Sin City" in '05, is now back in film once again. But instead of Robert Rodriguez manning the directorial duties, Zach Snyder was tapped to do Miller's graphic novel "300", Znyder uses Rodriguez's revolutionary visual green screen technique utilized in "Sin City" to create the world of Sparta and the Battle of Thermopylae for "300". However, that isn't to say that the two movies look the same. Where "Sin City" felt like a comic book in black and white as per Miller's source material, "300" feels like a whole different world.


The story is very simple Spartan King Leonidas (Gerard Butler) leads 300 of his finest warriors into battle against the vast Persian armies of King Xerxes (Rodrigo Santoro). Outnumbered beyond reason, Leonidas chooses to make his stand at the 'Hot Gates', a twisted mountain path facing the sea where the vastness of the Persian army will be of no use. Meanwhile, on the home front, Queen Gorgo (Lena Headey) struggles with the corrupt and complacent Greek senate to send reinforcements to aid in the King's battle.


The actors are deserving of a word or two. Gerard Butler's Leonidas was a bit over the top, intense every moment. Some acting dynamics would have made his high-intensity scenes feel more intense. The same is true to come extent of the entire cast. Lena Headey was great as the unfortunately-named Queen Gorgo, and Dominic West was wonderfully malicious as the evil traitor Thereon.

300 was by far the best cinematic experience that I have had since Return of the King came out. And that’s quite saying something .The visuals in the movie were spectacular and unique. The colors used were perfect with an antique look about the whole movie. It was the best war movie I have ever seen with jaw dropping action sequences and tasteful slaying (blood was flying, but in a good way). Don’t go around looking for character development and chemistry between actors .If you are eager for one hell of a movie, Look no further.

Spider-Man 3 Exclusive Sneak Peak 7min Trailer

Here is an exclusive clip of the upcoming summer blockbuster Spiderman3 , Has a great action sequence in it and look out for the Venom in the last scene ...Looks killer



Spiderman 3 Releases 4th May 2007 worldwide.

Zodiac - Movie Review

Zodiac is the newest film by masterful director, David Fincher, about the obsessive case of the Zodiac murderer. The film stars Mark Ruffalo and Jake Gyllenhaal, as a cop and a journalist who both over time obsess over the untraceable case, concerning a possible of thirty-seven supposed killings.

Zodiac contains three parts, or acts. In act 1 it tells the story of the Zodiac killer, and the individual reactions of cartoonist, Robert Graysmith, played by Jake Gyllenhaal; alcoholic journalist, Paul Avery, played by brilliant Robert Downey Jr.; and co-lead detective, Inspector David Toschi. Each of these people react in different ways, one way being the necessity to find how who this killer is, and what his codes mean, and others which involve going to the pub and having n exotic blue drink.



When someone refers to an all star cast, usually they refer to names everyone has heard of, in this, there are 3 large box office draws, and has a handful of performances that "wow" you and make you want to go home and learn more about the actor. The film contains more than enough people to make this a star studded cast, that hopefully by the end of the year at the Screen Actors Guild Awards, it will not be forgotten. Robert Downey Jr. gives one of his best on screen performances, starting the Best Supporting Actor race for next years Academy Awards, while Jake Gyllenhaal and Mark Ruffalo will have to battle it out off screen come Oscar time, due to both being monstrously captivating in the mysterious case, and giving so far some of the best performances of the year. While this is not saying much, Mark Ruffalo does in fact contribute the best performance of his career.


The supporting cast consisting of Brian Cox, Anthony Edwards and John Carroll Lynch give standout performances as well. John Carroll Lynch in particular, who manages to intimidate us with only a few scenes in hand. Brian Cox plays Melvin Belli, a morning news reporter who is forced to talk to the maniacal killer, manages to be both remotely comical and eminently dramatic.

Usually in films like this they fail miserably, not going in-depth about murders, evidence and such, much like The Black Dahlia, however here, David Fincher grabs you by the throat and presents you evidence, and the consuming and tortured lives the main characters must lead to find out the final verdict of the case.

The film has an illusive running time of 2 hours and 40 minutes of what one would expect to be sheer torture, regardless it seems as if you are there only for an hour or so, and by the time the film is over and the credits are rolling in front of your face after an elongated end title sequence, you will have wanted to see even more! Throughout the film it is thrilling, scary, and very akin in genre to The Silence of the Lambs, which coincidentally was released less than a month before Zodiac 16 years earlier, giving Zodiac a sense of hope for all viewers in that it has the slim chance of being considerably commemorated near the Academy Award reception.

In its technical aspects such as cinematography, editing and art direction, still it succeeds magnificently. David Fincher being the first ever to entirely shoot a film in uncompressed digital format, it makes the film all the much more astounding to watch next to the masterminded cinematographer do his work. The editing is not the best aspect of the film, but technically takes the title, making everything even and not overstretched leaving everyone neither thoughtless nor apathetic during it.

The best element which is David Fincher's common, excluding Panic Room, but still bewildering and new direction about the unfound Zodiac executioner. David Fincher gives us hints of Se7en and elements of The Silence of the Lambs, making it not a stupid horror film, but an intellectual thriller, that does not spoon-feed the plot to you, but keeps you intrigued regardless of being mindful of the plot, whether it be by acting, or the occasional gruesome murder and thrilling scenes. If it were not for David Fincher, the film would be good, but not by any means as fantastic and consummate as the movie ended up being.

The screenplay adapted by numerous Robert Graysmith books, was written by James Vanderbilt who shows off his chops by including both comic relief that commences as clearly humorous to a undoubtedly heartbreaking performance from Robert Downey Jr. as washed up has been journalist who makes wise-cracks and intellectual dialogue including telling off his intervening boss or his truthful once friend. The movie is funny; it's dramatic, and overall thrilling.

Zodiac proves to be through each of its accurate; detailed and on occasion frightful themes a more than stellar and an above first-rate film, that leaves you literally on the edge of your seat. In comparison to Fincher's other works, Zodiac is his most cultivated and perfected film, not having any weaknesses to drag it down as his others had. If Zodiac does not go down as one of the best films of this decade, never the less ever in its genre, I for one will be affronted and choleric, and will make it my personal goal that others can appreciate this film and be absorbed by its plot and characters as I have. Zodiac remains the best film of 2007 as of yet, and illustrious casting putting the cherry on top of this sugar coated gem of a film.

This is Sparta !!!

Well the summer is already here, and the blockbuster sequels wont take long to come.But the most anticipated movie for me is releasing next week (not in India though, its here on 16th March).I am talking about "300"



In 480 BC, the Persian king Xerxes (Rodrigo Santoro) sends his massive army to conquer Greece. The Greek city of Sparta houses its finest warriors, and 300 of these soldiers are chosen to meet the Persians at Thermopylae, engaging the soldiers in a narrow canyon where they cannot take full advantage of their numbers. The battle is a suicide mission, meant to buy time for the rest of the Greek forces to prepare for the invasion. However, that doesn't stop the Spartans from throwing their hearts into the fray, determined to take as many Persians as possible with them.

Get to watch the trailer Here

And the Oscar Winners are...

Well the Big night is over and let see how I fared with the predictions

Best Supporting Actress: Jennifer Hudson (got that one right) for Dream Girls

Best Supporting Actor: Alan Arkin (predicted Eddie Murphy) for Little Miss Sunshine

Best Actress: Helen Mirren (Doubted it would be anyone else) for The Queen

Best Actor: Forest Whitaker (Good guess) for The Last King of Scotland


Best Director: Martin Scorsese (Was not surprising) for The Departed

Best Picture: Now this was a 3 horse race between “Babel”, “Little Miss Sunshine” and “The Departed” and the winner is “The Departed”

My Oscar Predictions

Here are my picks for the big Oscar night, having seen most of the films ..will give my predictions


ACTRESS - SUPPORTING
Adriana Barraza – BABEL
Cate Blanchett – NOTES ON A SCANDAL
bigail Breslin – LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE
Jennifer Hudson – DREAMGIRLS
Rinko Kikuchi - BABEL

My Prediction: Though my personal choice would be Rinko Kikuchi, It would be Jennifer Hudson to walk away with the golden statue this year.

ACTOR - SUPPORTING
Alan Arkin – LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE
Jackie Earle Haley – LITTLE CHILDREN
Djimon Hounsou – BLOOD DIAMOND
Eddie Murphy – DREAMGIRLS
Mark Wahlberg – THE DEPARTED

My Prediction: Another statue for "Dreamgirls" as Eddie murphy will pick up this, Alan Arkin will be my choice.


ACTRESS - LEADING
Penélope Cruz – VOLVER
Judi Dench – NOTES ON A SCANDAL
Helen Mirren – THE QUEEN
Meryl Streep – THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA
Kate Winslet – LITTLE CHILDREN


My Predication: 2 words Helen Mirren.



ACTOR - LEADING
Leonardo DiCaprio – BLOOD DIAMOND
Ryan Gosling – HALF NELSON
Peter O’Toole – VENUS
Will Smith – THE PURSUIT OF HAPPYNESS
Forest Whitaker – THE LAST KING OF SCOTLAND


My Prediction : Though Forest Whitaker is almost certain to take it , Peter O'Toole or Leonardo might spring a surprise


DIRECTING
Alejandro González Iñárritu - BABEL
Martin Scorsese - THE DEPARTED
Clint Eastwood - LETTERS FROM IWO JIMA
Stephen Frears - THE QUEEN
Paul Greengrass - UNITED 93

My Prediction : This is almost a lock for Scorsese for his brilliant "The Departed" .Closely followed by Paul Greengrass


BEST PICTURE
BABEL
THE DEPARTED
LETTERS FROM IWO JIMA
LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE
THE QUEEN



My Prediction - This would be the most competitive category with every film being equally good to win the coveted prize. I would love to see "Little Miss Sunshine" get it , but I might be proved wrong by "Babel"

Reunion of "The Doors"

According to the latest reports the reunion of the legendary Grammy winning band "The Doors" might be possible if Pearl Jam lead singer Eddie Vedder agrees to perform with them.

Vedder had joined the three existing members of the group for shows and studio sessions a decade ago and drummer John Densmore reveals he would love to have Vedder perform with his band mates

Well here is hoping that it does happen , would be great to see them perform live

Iron Maiden To Rock Bangalore

International heavy metal gods Iron Maiden is all set to rock Bangalore on the 17th of March.. Its just been confirmed by the band and it can be found in the bands official website

http://www.ironmaiden.com/index.php?categoryid=15

So rejoice all Indians this is once in Life time oppurtunity ..Dont miss this.

Visually Stunning Masterpiece - Pan's Labyrinth

The one complaint I could think of against “Pans Labyrinth “is that it would be tagged “From the director of Hellboy and Blade 2” which is total injustice to the movie being compared with such mediocre films.Our film opens with a momentary shot of a bleeding Ofelia (Ivana Baquero), as the frames are introduced in reverse. We are told that it is the time of the Spanish Civil War. Ofelia and her heavily pregnant mother Carmen (Ariadna Gil) arrive at a nationalist military base in the woods and introduced to her stepfather, a vicious commanding officer, Capitan Vidal (Sergi Lopez) a fascist captain and a vicious sadist tasked with flushing out the remaining guerillas from the forests of Northern Spain

Uncomfortable with her new surroundings, suspicious of her stepfather and desperately concerned about the worsening condition of her mother, Ofelia uncovers a strange alternative world as she runs into a magical fairy who leads her to a mystical labyrinth, where she meets a mysterious faun, Pan (Doug Jones), who tells her that she is the long-lost princess of an underground kingdom, and that she must complete three dangerous tasks to return to her throne.
The story becomes more intense and the movie shifts back and forth ,between the labyrinth, where Ofelia has to retrieve a golden key from a giant toad and face the Pale Man - a creature that has plucked out its eyes and can only see by placing them on its hands. And the real world where Vidal dogged pursuit of the Communist forces is hampered by a rebellious but motherly housekeeper Mercedes (by Maribel Verdú, the sexy older woman from "Y tu mama también”) as it boils down to a cinematically brilliant climax which leads to a debatable ending.


Do not be fooled. This is a movie about children, but not for children. Brilliantly directed, masterfully set up, and visually jaw dropping The acting is top-notch, and young Ivana Baquero has a huge and brilliant future ahead of her (imagine Dakota Fanning, only better and less annoying) and Sergi Lopez looks like the reincarnation of Ralph Fiennes in "Schindler's List". The animation is phenomenal, but not nearly as breathtaking as the costumes or scenery. The labyrinth itself just sucks all the breath out of you when you see it at night for the first time.

A dark, brutal fairytale, chillingly set in the real world but full of hope and warmth, Pan's Labyrinth accomplishes a masterpiece, Pity it lost out on the “Best Picture” nominee , To me this would have won hands down (not having seen “Letters of Iwo Jima”).This is last year's best fantasy film. And it seems it will remain that way maybe till “300” releases

The Illusionist - Predictable, but Entertaining

This is one of the movies with no hype surrounding around it, low production and very reliable actors as compared to another high profile movie of the same genre “The Prestige”,but this movie is entertaining and has agood mix of romance, mystery, and magic.

After an attention-grabbing opening scene, the first half of the movie, through traditional flashback, is a familiar rich-girl-poor-boy yarn, seen umpteen times in our bollywood movies. After being torn apart for 15 years, the childhood friends (not quite sweethearts then) re-encountered – Sophie (Jessica Biel) of a noble family now about to be married to a crown prince (Rufus Sewell) while Edward (Edward Norton) has established himself as Eisenheim the fast rising magician that captures the fancy of the Vienna audience at the turn of the century. While considerable screen time has been given to Eisenheim’s career as a magician, the focus up to this point is on how Sophie and Eisenheim’s old friendship has been rekindled into romance with the crown prince being the obstacle.

At the mid-point, however, the tone of the movie take a rather abrupt turn,giving it a new life, as a dark mystery with also a supernatural flavour.
Eisenheim’s magic becomes the obsessed focus of both the audience and Chief
Inspector Uhl (Paul Giamatti) who tries to unravel its mystery. After some
twists and turns, however, the final revelation brings the audience to a
realisation that this is a rich-girl-poor-boy story after all more seasoned
audience can probably see the ending twist coming. There are also, not
unexpectedly, plot holes, as a water-tight plot is very difficult to come by.
However, none of this stops the movie from being vastly entertaining, with a
satisfactory conclusion.

My main complaint of this movie is the characters, everyone
is one dimensional, The prince is a tyrant, the Inspector is corrupt and power
hungry and the romance between the lead protagonists is forced and doesn’t help the cause. On the other hand, the plot was engrossing, the pacing and timing moved well, the cinematography was beautiful with very little CGI for the magic scenes. It’s
become almost blasphemous in the movie world to criticize any performance by
Edward Norton, but this actor, who can play just about any role thrown at him,
does deserve the distinction. His portrayal of Eisenheim is no exception. Giamatti’s
role as the chief inspector does not seem to be terribly demanding at first
glance, but that is the pivoting role and Giamatti fills that role admirably. Jessica
Biel was the surprise and is convincing in her role as a period elegant noble
lady. Pity it got lost with the hype of “The Prestige”..but certainly a great
watch on a lazy Sunday afternoon.

Stunning Piece of Work - Children of Men

Alfonso Cuaron returns back to form with his brilliant film (after a mildly impressive “Harry Potter and the prisoner of Azkaban”) with a dark, dreary, and bleak vision of the future. Children of men works on several levels; as a thriller it betters recent Hollywood action flicks; as an example of expert film making and on another level it offers a damning indictment on the increasingly right

wing political morality currently prevalent in UK and US government (but you don’t have to read that into it to enjoy the movie).

The plot is simple. In the year of 2027, Women are no longer fertile and the worlds youngest citizen, who was just 18 just died. Theodore (Clive Owen) is in London, where explosions are common and cages filled with illegal immigrants rounded up by riot police .When approached by ex-wife Julian (Julianne Moore), a figure from his activist days, Theodore finds himself the guardian of a woman who somehow is pregnant, with the hopes of getting her to mysterious group called the Human Project. This girl, Kee (Claire-Hope Ashitey) is pregnant and an immigrant. Theo is pulled in different directions, not knowing whom to trust in a world which would embrace having a baby, but wouldn’t acknowledge (and probably kill) the baby’s mother because of her immigrant status. Theo must travel past mounting obstacles, past all of the lies and deception, and try and help this girl and her soon to be born baby to reach her destination.

The casting is pretty well perfect. The film features solid performances from Clive Owen, who is at his rugged, rumpled best, and Julianne Moore is underused. Supporting players also do well: Michael Caine is terrific as Theo’s pot-growing hippie friend. Chiwetel Ejiofor plays a militant activist who can be both deadly cool and explosively hot.

The cinematography of this film requires a special mention .The camera is fully engaged in the world around the characters. There are several extended shots in this film that are absolutely mind boggling. The piece de resistance is a climactic nine minute extended tracking shot without a single cut. Other poignant images include scenes of caged foreigners ready for transport, an Abu-Ghraib inspired prison -- complete with attack dogs, disrobed and masked prisoners -- and a not-so-subtle visual allusion to Pink Floyd’s classic album cover, "Animals," with an accompanying flying pig.

As good as it is though, this movie is not for everyone. It is very violent, and depressing in its’ portrayal of the future. The government goes through cities blowing everything, and anything away for no apparent reason at all. It is quite disturbing, because many of the themes portrayed in "Children of Men" are not far off from real life. One thing that bothered me was that many things were not explained, like why women where infertile, or why the government had turned on everyone. I’m assuming, in the case of an artsy film like this, that the director wants to leave it up to the viewer to decide some things for himself. One thing that really stood out in this film is that it shows what the world would be like without children, and it wouldn’t be good.